I’m not a huge horrorhead like our own Christina Ortega Phillips, though I always prefer a good thriller to bide my time more than anything. For this, you can trust that a zombie movie like Army Of The Dead is something I would’ve avoided as nothing short of what sounded like the title of another direct-to-Walmart action flick were it not for the huge names attached – including one Zack Snyder, best known for rallying a loyal cult following with graphic novel-style flexes such as 300, Watchmen and Sucker Punch, coupled with the kind of signature “messy” flair he applies to his craft.
Going into his latest movie, I’m reluctant to dive too far into an in-depth review, lest I get roped into the Twitter drama over Snyder’s creative decisions; I spent a good few hours back-and-forth online looking up opinions by fellow colleagues and movie fans, and even some of the clickbait headlines – all ranging from topics pertaining to why he’d casting a Sean Spicer cameo, to what his purpose was in using “Zombie” by The Cranberries; There’s definitely reason to analyze, pick apart and sift through the little bits of movies, after all, we’re talking film analysis, and I would never take that away from anyone. Tweet to your heart’s content, I say. On that note, I’ve spent the past three weeks fending off a goddamn headache from my lower-jaw up to my head. Plus, I’m still a little sleep deprived and lagging on reviews that I need to work on and frankly, I currently don’t feel like dealing with a lot of the brouhaha and Tweet-fighting over Snyder. So, unless I’m compelled otherwise, this review of Army Of The Dead will be the extent of my litigation over Snyder and this flick, and that will be that.
From a script written by Snyder along with Shay Hatten and Joby Harold, actor Dave Bautista stars as Scott Ward, an ex-soldier/widower reduced to flipping burgers in the aftermath of a deadly zombie attack, turning Las Vegas into a walled-off, citywide hive for the undead. Propositioned by a casino owner named Tanaka (Hiroyuki Sanada) to retrive hundreds of mjllions more out of a safe for a 25% trade off, Ward – after a few beats and a troubling sleep – rounds up some of his old surviving unit members, Cruz (Ana de la Reguera), Vanderohe (Omari Hardwicke), and a partly-CG’d Peters (Tig Notaro), in addition to several more ragtag knuckleheads to comprise his team: an oddball safecracker named Dieter (Matthias Schweighöfer), viral video sharphooter named Guzman (Raul Castillo) and his right-hand triggerwoman, Chambers (Samantha Win), and a coyote named Lily (Nora Arnezeder), for the incursion into Vegas.
Adding to the fluctuating “woulds” and “coulds” of this story are the involvement of Tanaka’s personal associate, Martin (Garrett Dillahunt), the albeit troubling prerogative of his estranged and only daughter Kate (Ella Purnell) – a WHO volunteer at a quarantine facility eager to search for the missing mother of two children, and a creepy facility guard Cummings (Theo Rossi) at Lily’s behest. From the moment they embark on their joruney into the desolate city, the team finds itself learning a little more about the undead, and the unnerving will to survive sets upon the team with a presumed time frame of a day before the government nukes the city. What they don’t know, however, are the ulterior motives set in place by a member of their team, and with the zombies themselves, including the voracious undead Alpha King and Queen (Richard Cetrone and Athena Perample) stalking the bunch, it’s only a matter of time before all the cards are dealt and its every man for themselves, for richer or poorer, dead or alive.
For Ward, however, the stakes are much higher, having presumably “run” from Kate in the wake of the tragic turning point that changed his relationship with her forever. Part and parcel to this is a mark in his characterization as someone with a tendency to misread the room at times – something that also affects his romantic prospects with one other member of the team. Ward is Snyder’s post-war everyman; someone looking toward a more simple life. He’s Peter Berg’s Beck a la The Rundown without the incorrigible buddy antics of a sidekick and fear of using a gun when duty calls, and Kate herself, know not as tactically empowered as her father, is provenly able to point and shoot as well when the going gets tough.
Culminating the duo’s presence is a cast roster for what aspires to be a meaty, gory action horror feature keen to at least partly tickle the nostalgic interest of fandoms of classic staples like Predator (1987) and Aliens (1986). Encumbent with its execution are some of the kinds of audacious creative choices that you might (or might not) expect from Snyder, and no, I’m not going to get into all that controversy. What I can tell you is that Army Of The Dead delivers exactly what it sells on the tin as an in-your-face, hyperviolent action thriller with some ample character development to make it worth your while. Despite its overlong runtime, it’s got some sweet moments of story, drama and action as well to Bautista’s benefit, as well as several cast members. Actress and comedienne Notaro owns in the role of Peters (by way of a two million dollar reshoot of scenes that previously included now-disgraced actor Chris D’Elia) and no one can tell me different; de la Reguera’s Cruz brings an understandable poignance in her chemistry with Ward; Dieter’s goofy disposition comes well balanced with a level of genius that eventually makes him palatable to Vanderohe and the team, including Castillo’s “Guz” at one point a la hair appreciation.
There’s a plot point involving a government conspiracy that bodes as much more of an afterthought and there’s really no kind of catharsis after that. After all the damage has been done, bodies are dropped and the good guys and gals try and get in one last hoorah, Army Of The Dead is what it is, whether you like it or not. One footnote I’ll chime in on though, is the cameo casting of Sean Spicer and Donna Brazile. Yeah, I despise the likes of Spicer and anyone else who’s worked to the benefit of the Orange Traitor The Hutt, but I have issue with both these two, and still, in my view at least, neither nobody’s grievances with all these assholes, nor mine, are of no matter.
As much as folks are eager to portend with urgency whilst taking to Snyder’s penchants whatever they are, at the end of the day it’s about his movies, and the fact that after seventeen years of seeing him build his resumè, moviegoers are still talking about him. He’s a hitmaker for the studios, a fact that Netflix’s Army Of The Dead isn’t afraid to echo (which is more than I can say for WarnerMedia in its resolve to shitcan the Snyderverse despite the fact that Zack Snyder’s Justice League SLAPS), and if you still have something to say about it, it means that Snyder’s done his part, which is really all we can ask for until he stirs the pot with the next one.
Stream Zack Snyder’s Army Of The Dead on Netflix